My master chef of a mother-in-law loves to find and try new recipes. With my gluten-free needs and her flare for cooking, she has treated me to all kinds of delicacies I would not make for myself. Frankly, I am in the kitchen out of necessity to eat healthy tasty food at an affordable price; I’m not in there for fun, like she is.

Eating well is my pleasure.

She made this carrot cake for us that features pine nuts, almond flour, and mascarpone frosting. It is simply heavenly and I must share it with you. It tastes and feels both light and rich at the same time. I can’t think of anything to which to compare it. It is not fluffy like bread, but more soft and juicy.

If you like to experiment in the kitchen and eat amazing desserts, this Gluten Free Venetian Carrot Cake Carrot Cake Recipe is for you.

This GLUTEN FREE VENETIAN CAKE CARROT CAKE RECIPE is from THE FOOD NETWORK.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the base of the springform pan with a nonstick silicone liner or baking parchment. Grease the sides with olive oil. Add the pine nuts to a small dry pan and toast them over low heat.

Grate the carrots in a food processor or with a coarse grater, and put them on a double layer of kitchen towels. Wrap the towels around the carrots to soak up the excess liquid.

Put the sultanas in a small saucepan with the rum, and bring to the boil over medium heat. Lower the heat and simmer for 3 minutes.

Whisk the sugar and 1/2 cup of oil in a stand mixer or by hand, until creamily and airily mixed together.

Whisk in the vanilla and eggs in a large bowl. Fold in the ground almonds, nutmeg, grated carrots, golden sultanas (and any rum that clings to them) and finally the lemon zest and lemon juice.

Scrape the mixture into the prepared cake tin and smooth the surface with a rubber spatula. The batter will be very shallow in the tin.

Sprinkle with the pine nuts and bake until the top is risen and golden and a cake tester comes out sticky but otherwise more or less clean, about 30 to 40 minutes.

Remove the cake from the oven and let it sit on a rack for 10 minutes before removing the sides. Let cool until ready to serve. Transfer the cake to a serving platter.

Combine the mascarpone, confectioners’ sugar and rum in a small bowl. Slice the cake and serve with the mascarpone cream.

Make Ahead Note:

The cake can be baked up to 3 days ahead. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and store in airtight container in a cool place. Will keep for a total of 5 to 6 days.

Freeze Note:

The cake can be frozen (still on base of the tin), carefully wrapped in double layer of plastic wrap and 1 layer of foil, for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight at room temperature.

After the water comes to a boil, shut off the fire or heat. Put in 5 tea bags without the strings or tags. Stir.

Without regard to the ice cream part, if you like sweetened ice tea, I put one spoon of sugar per tea bag, so in this case, 5 spoons of sugar. I use organic brown sugar and sometimes organic white sugar.

[If your ice tea is already cold and you want to sweeten per individual glass, Agave is a good liquid sweetener to use, or if you are diabetic, use a tiny bit of Stevia, which is natural (they say) and has no sugar content.]

Covered, let the hot water and tea bags steep for 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until water is dark.

Pour tea into the glass jar. Let cool an hour on the counter. Then put into the refrigerator to chill. This may take several hours.

When glass jar is cold to the touch, you may drink it. Or you can add ice cubes if it is still warm and you really want to get at that tea.

I usually add a touch of milk, but it is also really tasty without it.

If you are going for the Ice Tea Float, add a vanilla ice cream scoop, which tastes great with black and green teas, but maybe not so good with fruit teas.

I had a terrible craving and set out to make it gluten free, easy, and as healthy as possible. The title alone gives you an idea how naughty this one is: Chocolate Gluten Free Carrot Cake Cream Cheese Frosting Cupcakes.

Last time I had a similar craving, the only options I found for gluten free cream cheese frostings at the grocery store had a frightening amount of preservatives. These prepared frostings were gluten free, so I went ahead and bought one, but all the weird stuff hurt my conscience.

This time, I was determined to make a healthier gluten free frosting myself. Intimidated at first, it was actually very easy. Starting from America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, here is my variation on their frosting recipe:

GLUTEN FREE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING RECIPE

8 oz. of organic cream cheese

5 tablespoons of organic salted butter

1/2 squeezed orange or lemon

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

1.25 cups of fine organic sugar

On LOW HEAT, mix all the ingredients together in a metal pot or pan (do not use non-stick), stirring until smooth.

When mixed, pour into a wide glass jar (I used a recycled Salsa jar). Put in the refrigerator for 2 hours to harden.

Instead of a baking dish or pan, use a 12 cupcake baking tray. Spray the tray with a non-stick, I use organic Olive Oil Spray. Pour in the chocolate carrot mix evenly. Follow cooking time on box. Test if ready with toothpick or knife.

To remove the carrot brownie cupcakes, wait to cool, then use one of those angled pliable spatulas, swooping around the edges. These type of spatula also work best to get the heated frosting out of the pan and into the jar.

You can eat this while it is hot, but it may fall apart and the frosting will be all gooey, though it will taste great. For better appearance, a cooled cupcake and hardened frosting will look nice.

Notes on Gluten Free Cupcake Safe Storage: I like cupcakes over cakes because they are neater, smaller, and the perfect serving size. In the fridge, I keep the cupcakes in a food container with seal-tight lid, layered with wax paper in between. I only put the frosting on when ready to eat. The frosting keeps nicely refrigerated in a jar. Safe for 1 week. By 2 weeks, flavor is not as good. By week 3, you need to throw away anything not eaten.

For a classic family meal that is easy to prepare of chicken, potatoes, and carrots, here is what you need and the directions for how to make baked chicken.

CHICKEN BREASTS
At Costco you can get big multiple packs of chicken breasts for cheap. Each adult eats 2-3 pieces, children 1. In the Costco packs are 3-4 breasts per pack, in a total of 6 packs. Whatever you don’t use, put in the freezer while still in its sealed pack. To defrost, set in a bowl of water at morning time.

CARROTS
You can either buy normal long carrots, wash, and cut them, or buy packaged small carrots, wash and they are ready to use.

POTATOES
You can use any size or type of potato. Wash and cut to bite size.

EXTRA VEGETABLES
You may add any other vegetables you like. Pictured here, I have added cauliflower.

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to BAKE 375.

In a long deep baking dish, put a thin layer of olive oil. Place in your chicken, then your vegetables. Squeeze or pour fresh lemon, lime, and/or orange juice all over everything. Dash salt and pepper evenly over everything. Put small squares of butter evenly on each piece of chicken and pack of vegetables. Cover entire dish with tin foil. Put in oven, mid level or top.

Cook 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Remove tin foil. Move the chicken to top and put vegetables underneath to soak up juices and flavor or into a serving bowl. BROIL 375 top of chicken to make crispy for 10 minutes or golden brown.

Remove from oven and serve. It is easy to make, gluten-free, and healthy for the whole family.

Instead of the refined sugars, chemicals, and empty calories of Red Bull, with the Beet Dozer you get energizing cleansing nutrients from red beets, a good caffeine fix from the coffee, some alkaline milk to calm your stomach acid, and delicious natural spices to fulfill your randy taste buds.

Why on Earth Did I Make the Beet Dozer and How?

Like most things I make in the kitchen, it is a combo of scraps that turn into a happy accident of tasty flavors.

As an actor, I had been up since 2:30am for a movie set call time of 4:00am. I was off work and home by 10:30am and was thinking how I needed some sort of pick-me-up to make it through the next 12 hours.

Synthetic substances do not appeal to me.

Cleaning the kitchen, I noticed the great value of what remained scattered on the counters. Before I cleaned the pot from the beets I just boiled, I put two Celestial Seasonings Chai Tea bags in the remaining scalding hot water to steep.

To the 2 cups of the steeped Red Beet Water Chai Tea, I added the last cup of Muddy Coffee from the coffee press that was sitting on the counter from my husband, plus a cup of Organic Whole Milk, and 2 long squirts of Agave Nectar sweetener. In a recycled glass beverage bottle, I shook up the concoction and put it in the refrigerator to chill.

The beets I boiled I used in a salad.

Why Red Beets are Great

Flavonoids

Anticancerous

Antioxidant

Antiviral, antifungal, antibacterial, suppresses Herpes

Anti-ulcer

Anti-inflammatory

Good for blood circulation

Folic Acid keeps you younger

Red poop is exciting

Red Beet Uses

Fever

Constipation

Virus

Lethargy

Red coloring (make-up, clothes, etc)

You can eat boiled beets, drink beet juice, or use the boiled beet water for tea or coloring.

Don’t drink the Beet Dozer everyday because it could make your stomach too acidic and it might be high in sodium from the beets, but once in a while, for a healthy anxiety-free alternative to mass produced energy drinks, the Beet Dozer Dirty Chai will make you feel alert.

It’s my party and I can cry if I want to, cry if I want to; you would cry too if you had to make a meal to fit all medical dietary issues!

You have the whole family coming over and everyone has a different medical issue. Grandpa can’t have salt because of his high blood pressure. Gramma needs low sugar and low calories because of her diabetes. Brother’s wife from California is a vegan and eats no meat or dairy, which includes butter! Cousin Jane just found out she has Celiac Disease and can’t eat gluten found in wheat, barley, rye, and enriched white flour.

Oh my gosh! It’s just too much to handle. Forget it. You never want to commit to a dinner party ever again!

Fret not. Wipe your tears away. There is a very easy, healthy, and tasty food preparation solution. Vegetables and rice! I know, it may sound totally unappetizing, but trust me, it’s delicious how I prepare it.

This soup is good for balancing the hormonal and blood systems, combatting the current situation wherein science and capitalism are destroying what is naturally good for us and seriously endangering our health!

Long list, I know. Your food comes with no warning, so what can you do about it?

One word can help you avoid most those nasty things: select Organic and local foods and products! The more people who reject dangerous altered, poisoned, and processed foods, the cheaper organic and local foods will become, and the further we push out what is dangerous to us and extend the longevity of life on this planet.

The purposeful genetic altering for infertility in plants and animals ultimately means death for all and a cessation of the air (carbon dioxide to oxygen) and weather cycles. What you purchase to eat will determine where this planet goes. Your health, your children, and life on the planet depend on it.

Watch documentary The Future of Foods on Hulu.com for free. Learn about what is happening to you and to the world.

Getting people to eat vegetables is hard enough; getting them to eat green slop is another challenge entirely. I tried to make it look somewhat inviting by adding some of its ingredients as decoration around the edges.

This zesty healthy soup is so easy to make. I love it, but I’ll admit that most people refuse it on the grounds of it being too healthy and gross-looking.

This soup is gluten-free, vegetarian, dairy-free, vegan safe! Read more